The quirks and oddities in Evermore make it a unique gem entirely apart from Secret of Mana. I've never minded that it emulates an already successful engine; a lot of games do and this one's excellent. The atmosphere's dark, alchemy rocks, the music haunting, and in my honest opinion, it diverges more from traditional plot stereotypes than a lot of the classic RPGs. I'd love to see this re-released with the 2-player patch, but who knows what Nintendo will do...